Another Cinderella Story
by Shiro Ryuu
Summary: [ONESHOT] Thatz comes up with the perfect, albeit slightly demented, plan for Rune to be able to dance with his true love at the Halloween ball... Yes, pity him, do. RxR


**Disclaimer**: Dragon Knights belongs to Mineko Ohkami, but I'm pretty sure that Cinderella has passed out of copyright and is public property at this point... Oh, and the Backstreet Boys belong to, er, the Backstreet Boys?

**AN**: Okay, first up I would like to extend a warm welcome to The Mad Tea Party... so welcome ;) Other than that... KONNICHIWA! Wassup! Okay, I feel better now... Hmm. I would just like to state, for the record, that the editted version is not really meant to be read. Yes, that's right - **THIS STORY HAS BEEN EDITTED!** I don't like it any more than you do, but there's a simple solution. Go to my bio, and under the section titled 'Attention', near the bottom, find the link to the uneditted version on Media Miner :) Or you could stay here, and read the sucky editted verion which I put no effort into whatsoever. It's entierly your choice, of course ;) I would put the link in the actual story, but ff net won't let me for some reason... Oh no, they're on to me! O.O

Xooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo_Cinderella_ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX

Rune sighed softly, staring up at the sunlight filtering though the golden-brown autumn leaves above him, and felt sorry for himself. He _hated _this time of year, hated it with a passion. As if Valentine's Day wasn't bad enough...

This weekend - that soon already? - Lykouleon was holding a Samhain celebration, more commonly known as Halloween these days. The humans didn't make a big deal of it anymore, but in older days it used to be considered the end of the year and a major occasion. Seeing as Lykouleon was immortal and old enough to remember those times like they were yesterday, he tended to hold more traditional celebrations. But they mixed with modern practices too, in that the main event was always a masquerade ball.

The balls... Those were his problem. For so long, he didn't know how long, for the last couple years at least, they had been torture for him. All the villagers were invited... Which meant there was no lack of strange girls clinging all over him. But more importantly, his fellow Knights...

At that moment, Water's head entered his field of vision, causing him to let out a startled little 'eep'. He could have sworn, really, that his dragon was snickering... Grr... Along with his head, Water was also coming a bit too close for comfort with one of his signs. Rune read it with some difficulty, as it was upside down.

(Are you alright, Master? You sure sigh a lot.)

Rune smiled, picking up the dragon and holding him close. "I'm fine, don't worry."

(Liar liar, pants-on-fire...)

From somewhere up in the trees, someone snickered. Rune jumped up, an instinctive reaction, just in time to see Thatz jump down. He landed gracefully, rather like a cat, despite the fact that he had a turkey leg in one hand.

"I agree with Water," he said, winking. Dammit, he was _positive _the dragon was laughing at him now...

Rune sighed, replacing the sword he hadn't even realized he'd half-unsheathed. "Don't do that, you pig," he grumbled. "Where did you get the leg, anyway? Or would I rather not know?"

Thatz grinned, flopping down on the lush grass. "Probably not," he agreed. Rune shot him a withering look, but he continued obliviously. "Anyway, like I was saying, I agree with Water. You sighed a gazillion times; do you have any idea how hard it is for a guy to enjoy a good after-lunch snack listening to that? What's on your mind?"

He looked away moodily. "I'd rather not talk about it," he said, finding that it came out a bit more harshly than he'd meant it to.

Thatz's expression softened, a hard effect to achieve with a turkey leg sticking out of you mouth. "Wook, Wune-" he swallowed - "we've know each other for, well, pretty much forever. I don't know about you, but _I_ like to think of you as one of my best friends. You can tell me stuff."

He winced. Yeah, that was true; in fact, he had told him very personal things in the past. Thatz was a really great friend, and he tended to give surprisingly practical advice. But... "I don't know-" he started, but the former thief cut him off.

"It's about Rath, isn't it?" he asked.

Rune gaped. "What - You - But how - ?"

"Iz witten awl offer oor vase," Thatz said sagely, munching away. He swallowed again, and continued. "Haven't you told him yet?"

He sighed again - though he did find it somewhat amusing that Thatz twitched when he did so - and lay back on the grass next to him. "No," he admitted. "I... guess I'm just afraid that once I tell him I love him, he won't want to be my friend anymore."

"Of course he won't," Thatz said, grinning wickedly. "He'll want to be your _lover_..." Rune turned bright red and thwacked him. After a brief scuffle that ended with Thatz at sword-point, and after said sword had been safely returned to its sheath, he let out a deep breath and continued. "Seriously, you need to tell him. Either way you'll be better off; at least then you won't be agonizing over it."

Rune rolled his eyes. "Not exactly the most comforting advice, Thatz," he said dryly.

"Sheesh!" he groaned, waving what little remained of the turkey leg expressively. "Fine, fine, how about this? I have the perfect plan; it's virtually foolproof." Rune, of course, was already starting to worry. But he listened obligingly, anyway, as Thatz rolled over on to his side to whisper in his ear.

Throughout the castle grounds, birds took flight in the wake of the resounding yell of shock. Even Alfeegi, who had cornered Ruwalk on a balcony and was dangerously close to pushing him off, paused in mid-rant... Then he started back up again.

"_WHAT!_" Rune had gotten red again, though this time it was half out of anger. "I am NOT dressing in drag again!"

Thatz grinned a little nervously, trying to be discreet about it as he edged away. _Scary_... "Aw, come on, give it a chance! It's the perfect plan, I'm telling you. You make him fall for you while you're dressed as a girl and wearing a mask, and then at the end of the night you show him who you really are. He'll have no choice but to except his feelings for you - if he doesn't like you already!"

Rune scoffed. "I'm not doing it," he said flatly.

Suddenly, Thatz grew more serious. "Then what will you do?"

Well, that hit him like one of his signature 500lb weights. Not that he hadn't considered it before, hadn't fantasized about it a million times. But what was the best he could come up with, really? 'Hey, Rath, I, um, love you,' and then they kiss? Which was all well and good, except that in the real world he wasn't guaranteed a happy ending... Shouldn't he be grasping at anything that could possibly make it easier?

Finally, he shook his head. "I don't know," he admitted. "But hey, genius, what if I can't make him fall in love with me in just one night? Is there a plan B to this?"

He nodded so cheerfully that it occurred to Rune to fear for his sanity. "Yup! It's simple - if he doesn't seem really interested in you, just don't show him who you are. And even if he did like you after all, you still can't lose. He'll probably talk about 'the wonderful girl I danced with' if he did like you, and you can just tell him it was you."

Rune nodded thoughtfully. 'I can't believe I'm seriously considering this...' "Fine, I'll do it," he said, despite this fact that he had a feeling he would regret it.

Thatz's eyes widened, as if he was surprised Rune had actually agreed, and then he grinned hugely. "I _knew _you liked dressing up like a girl..." And he took off at top speed, cackling like the loose cannon he was.

Once again, the birds took flight...

XoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX

So here he was. Yeah.

It was a little less than a week later, the night of the Halloween ball to be precise, and here he was. All dressed up in a white _dress _with all sorts of silver trim and his hair piled mock-carelessly on his head supported with silver ribbons, trying to sit pretty in a coach that rattled and shook terribly at every bump. He had hired the coach down at the village so everyone would see him come up to the castle. The most important part of his costume, a silver-decorate white mask, rested on his lap under his folded hands.

In short, he had never been so nervous in his life.

When the coach pulled up to the castle, he faced the first of the night's many challenges - the servant asked him for a name to announce him by. He swallowed, then met the man's eyes from behind his mask and said "Mojiko," just as he had decided on earlier that week.

The servant, if he even noticed it, didn't hesitate at the familiarity of his voice. He bowed gracefully, admitting him to the castle.

He couldn't help but sigh a little in admiration at the sight of the Great Hall. He had seen all the decorations as they were being put up, of course, but it looked even more beautiful with all the lights lit and filled with people. Another servant announced his arrival and he descended the steps to the main floor - slowly, of course, so as to not trip.

He caught himself biting his lower lip worriedly, and hurriedly stopped. The hard part was only beginning; he couldn't let himself get nervous already. He hadn't even found Rath yet...

So many people! Lord Lykouleon had a reputation for throwing good parties. Whirling, dancing couples as far as the eye could see... He felt so awkward, wandering on the sidelines and searching for the one reason he was here. The music playing was of a popular variety; apparently the Lord didn't want his traditional party to seem dusty. It had a good rhythm; Rune found himself really wishing had someone to dance with. But it soon came to an end, and the dancers broke up for a short intermission before the next round.

Now it was even more confusing than ever. People, people, milling all around him. Some man he didn't know asked him if he could have the next dance; he blushed and turned him down, saying he was looking for someone. The man looked genuinely disappointed; he couldn't help but feel a bit flattered. If only Rath would be that taken with him...

If only he could find Rath...

He stopped in the middle of the crowded dance floor, letting the people flow around him. He was beginning to feel like this was all hopeless. Even if he could find Rath, there wasn't really much of a chance that this would work... What was he doing here, anyway? He felt the tears gathering in his eyes, threatening to spill over...

Then, a hand came down to gently grasp his shoulder. He gasped, turning around... And there _he _was.

He had never seen Rath look so magnificent. The light of a million candles gave an extra luster to his hair and reflected off the gold ornaments on his outfit. The main colors were red and black, going nicely with the said decorations. Rune suddenly thought he looked more like a prince than a knight, a perfect match for his own princess-like disguise...

He was snapped back to reality as Rath smiled charmingly. "You are Mojiko, aren't you?"

He bit back a smile at Rath's forever too-casual style of speech. "Hai..." And then feeling rather foolish, he asked, "And you are?"

"Rath," he said simply. Rune wondered at that; shouldn't he include his title? But Rath didn't seem to think so. "Would you care to dance?"

This was so perfect! Out of all the girls here, he had already chosen him. He supposed he ought to make some conversation. But for the moment all he could manage was a slightly breathless, "Hai."

The first melody was a slow, sweet instrumental of an older variety. They talked in hushed voices about little things, but it was obvious that neither of their minds were on the conversation. Rune couldn't bring himself to wonder, now, why Rath had only given him his name, or why he didn't bother to ask where he was from... He was too absorbed in the feeling of being held like this, surrounded in the warmth of Rath's body, concentrating his attention on the light pressure of the Fire Knight's hands on his back as they guided him to the music. He never wanted this moment to end...

But the song eventually came to a close. Rune's heart skipped a beat as he realized that Rath might want to find another partner, but he stuck by his side as they made a quick stop at the refreshments table. Rath got him some punch; it was amazing, how he could feel himself go slightly pink from even a light touch as the cup changed hands. Being with him... feeling like he could show some ghost of his true feelings, for once... made him feel so light-headed...

The next song started up. Rath shot him a questioning look, all that was necessary, and when Rune nodded he took his hand and leaded him back out on to the dance floor.

_You are my fire_

_The one desire_

_Believe when I say_

_I want it that way_

'Such a beautiful song,' Rune thought, though a haze of happiness. It described his feelings toward Rath so perfectly...

_But we are two worlds apart_

_Can't reach to your heart_

_When you say_

_That I want it that way_

He frowned lightly. "Kind of a strange song, don't you think?" he asked casually, but inside he was thinking that... that it was so true too. It reminded him, somehow, of how little he really knew about Rath. He thought they were friends... but with Rath, could he even assume that much? Masks, just like the mask he wore right now. That was what Rath was all about. Was there really a chance that he could touch what was behind all those masks?

_Tell me why_

_Ain't nothin' but a heartache_

_Tell me why_

_Ain't nothin' but a mistake_

_Tell me why_

_I never wanna hear you say_

_I want it that way_

Was it really possible that this was all a mistake? Would he only wind up hurt? 'When you play with fire you wind up burned...'

_Am I your fire?_

_Your one desire?_

_Yes I know it's too late_

_But I want it that way_

How could he have ever thought someone like Rath could like him? Half of him wondered how he could give up just like that, even though everything was going right, but the other half felt like he was seeing clearly for the first time. He was an embodiment of the things Rath seemed to hate so much about the Dragon Tribe. Controlling, righteous...

_Now I can see that we've fallen apart_

_From the way that it used to be, yeah_

_No matter the distance_

_I want you to know that_

_Deep down inside of me..._

He ripped away from Rath, disrupting the rythem of the dance as he fought his way out.

XoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX

Rath chewed his breakfast thoughtfully. Something was amiss, and now that he'd been awake long enough to feel vaugly human, he'd figured out what it was. "Hey, Thatz, do you know where the lazy elf's at?"

Thatz felt mildly afronted at being expected to stop eating long enough to make conversation, so he compromised by talking with his mouth full. "I du oh..." Suddenly he paled slightly. "Er..." He swallowed. "Did you see him at the ball, by the way?"

Rath frowned thoughtfully at him. "...No. Did you?"

Thatz swallowed again, for no apparent reason. "Ah... No. Well, if you didn't see him - I mean, he's probably up at his room. I mean, er, where else would he be?" Rath stared. "Why don't you, uh, go up and talk to him?" At this point Rath might have asked some rather uncomfortable questions, except that he was preoccupied with the sausage Thatz was brandishing dangeriously close to his face as he ushered him out of the room.

On one side of the closed door, Thatz sighed in relief... and started eating again. On the other side, Rath stared thoughtfully into middle distance for a moment... and laughed.

XoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX

As Rath approached Rune's door, a tense-looking servant hovering outside it saw him and hurried over.

"Master Rath! It's Master Rune, sir; he's locked himself in his room and won't let me in!"

Rath raised an eyebrow. Taking it hard, wasn't he?

From somewhere under the mass of pillows and blankets, Rune moaned. Oh, great. Was he really so far gone that he was imagining things? He could of sworn he'd heard his voice, like music... Then it came again, preceeded by a loud knocking: "Get out of bed and let me in, you lazy, _fat _elf!" This was followed by muffled giggling.

He sat up automatically. "I AM NOT FAT!" Then he gasped and clapped a hand over his mouth; oh, great, now he was talking to the voices in his head...

"Oh, good, then it shouldn't take too much effort to get out of bed and let me in!"

Rune scowled at the door. Okay, maybe he wasn't hearing things; only the real Rath would be this rude... And yet, for some reason his eyes were prickling...

"If you don't open this door, I'll get Fire to burn it down! You know I mean it, right?" There were some happy, dragon-ish cooing noises, which at the moment sounded distinctly evil.

Rune gasped. "Don't you dare!"

Rath just giggled.

All thoughts of wallowing in misery for the rest of eternity dissapeared as Rune leapt out of bed and tried franticaly to staighten his hair.

"Five..."

With a horrified little squeak, Rune kicked the dress and accessories under the bed.

"Four..."

Like a man looking down and realizing he's run off a cliff, Rune suddenly discovered the fact that he only had pajama pants on.

"Three..."

"Hold on!" he yelled, trying to pull a shirt on. Rath just giggled, again, disturbingly.

"Two!"

Pants, pants, where were his pants...

"Two and a half..."

Pants!

"One... Z-"

Rune flung the door open, glaring. "You... _You..._" Rath smiled innocently and turned to dismiss the servant, but keen survival instincts had already caused her to dissapear at speed; he turned back.

"So, Rune, why didn't you come down to breakfast? Why'd you lock yourself in your room?"

It was the obvious thing to ask, of course. Rune deflated. "Look, I'd really rather just not talk about it right now..." he muttered, attempting to shut the door. Rath stuck his foot in it; Rune made a vague irritated noise.

"Can I come in? Please?"

Rune sighed. Make me even more miserable, why don't you? He opened the door.

He really didn't know how he was supposed to deal with this. Last night he had firmly decided, despite the fact that the desicion seemed to have sapped him of all his strength for some reason, that he was being very silly and ought to give up on Rath. The plan was to very firmly stop himself whenever he found himself staring at him, or thinking about him, or anything like that. He was an elf; he ought to have _that _much self control, though his sensiblity had already been proven seriously screwed up by the fact that he actually willingly dressed in drag. But now that he was actually here, in his room, alone... he was staring. A great deal. It seemed to be nearly all he was capabile of doing at the moment, actually. He wondered what would happen if Rath tried to talk to him. There was really nothing remarkable about the way he looked or how he was dressed this morning, except that to Rune there was. Everything... his face, his hair, the precise way his clothes hung... Then, to his shock, Rath reached out and touched his face.

"R-Rath?" he sputtered. Now I know I'm hallucinating...

"You aren't sick, are you?" Rath asked. "You were just staring for a minute there, and you're kind of flushed..." He said this with such perfectly earnest concern that Rune had to look closely at his face to be sure he wasn't messing with him.

His brain was finally completely reunitied with his mouth, like long-lost relatives. "No, no, I'm fine," he said, brushing Rath's hand away. Give it up already...

Rath shrugged. "If you're sure. Then why did you lock yourself in your room?"

Rune gulped. Crap. He needed to get a hold of himself; if he'd been thinking straight he would've said he _was _sick. "I-I was sleepy, that's all. I stayed up late partying, you know. You should have let me alone; I would have gotten up in a couple hours."

Rath scoffed. "You sure had that servant concerned. Why did you lock your door if you were just sleeping?"

Grr... Why did he have to be so persistant? He was like a freakin' pitbull, or Alfeegi or something scary like that. "I didn't hear the servant, and I probably locked my door without thinking because I was so tired," he said crisply, "and now I'd really appreciate it if you left and let me get some sleep." And he attempted to push him out the door.

Rath laughed. "But you weren't out that late! You ran off around midnight. Of course, you might have been up later; I don't know where you went afterwards, though I did try to follow you..."

Rune gaped. "You... I mean, I didn't... I wasn't..." That was simply too much. He'd known all along, which meant he must be here to make fun of him. He wanted to cry; perhaps dressing in drag had gotten to him? But he couldn't do that, not right now... So he settled for saying, very calmly, "I have no idea what you're talking about; I never saw you at the ball. I was there until about three, anyway. I don't see why you have to act so strange when I'm not feeling entierly-"

"Shut up," Rath countered. "I mean, did you seriously think I wouldn't recognize you? I spend more time with you and Thatz than with anyone else... Why did you run away? You looked so happy."

Happy? Now that was really just too much. He was never going to be really happy, except for maybe a moment, anyway...

Rune leaned up and kissed him, simply and breifly. "Now get out."

Rath had his hand over his mouth in what appeared to be deep shock, but he managed a shaky, "Pardon?"

Rune decided that as long as he was commiting suicide, he might as well go for broke. "I was there to see you. I thought you might dance with a faceless girl... I'm an idiot, of course. I promise I'll leave you alone from now on. Now get out."

At which point it was discovered that Rath was smiling behind his hand. Snickering, even. "Actually, _now _I will show you how to kiss properly."

Rune nearly choked in shock, except he couldn't do that because it might have meant that Rath would have stopped kissing him or something unthinkable like that. Rath gently pulled him flush against him with one hand, while his other hand lingered around the nape of his neck. Rune was so startled that he briefly opened his eyes, when Rath deepened the kiss most unabashedly, but after a moment he just closed them again. It wasn't like he could exactly protest...

When they pulled away, Rune was quiet for a few moments under the pretense of being out of breath in order to arrange his thoughts. This was not the time to be stunned, he realized. There was something he... needed to say... With an expression of complete calm, he hit Rath across the face. Not too hard, considering the circumstances, but still.

Rath sputtered mildly. So did Rune. "You... You led me on!" he burst out. Rath blinked. "All this time, you knew, and you let me think - jerk!"

Rath shrugged, grinning slightly even while he was rubbing his cheek. "Y'know, you didn't really give me much of a chance. I couldn't exactly say anything in front of all those people. And then you went and ran off! You even lost one of your shoes, in case you didn't notice."

Rune blushed slightly, and briefly considered pointing out that the whole outfit had actually been Thatz's idea. But no, no, he was supposed to be irritable. And... beneath that, he found he was too happy to particularly care about either. What kind of crazy luck...? Suddenly, he laughed out loud at remembering what he'd thought during the dance. He really _hadn't _known as much as he'd thought about Rath. Maybe his own feelings had just blinded him, but he never would have guessed that those feelings were being returned. So perhaps, all in all, Rath might actually be even _better _underneath...

Rath cocked his head quizzically. "What's so funny?" he asked, snapping Rune back into reality.

He chuckled again. "Nothing," he said, and conveniently changed the subject by kissing him.

By the end of _that _kiss they had wound up spralled out on the bed, and Rune was left without the slightest idea of how they'd gotten there. He blushed. "Rath..."

The Fire Knight grinned down at him. "What? Am I rushing you?"

"...no..."

His grin widened, and he leaned down to lap, cat-like, at Rune's neck. This worsened his blush a fair deal, but it also made the elf shiver and thread his fingers through Rath's hair to keep him there. Rath chuckled lightly against the other's throat.

Gradually he worked his way down, until Rune's shirt collar got in the way. After a mischievious-looking glance for permission, Rath yanked it quickly over Rune's head. Then he sat back and stared for a moment, until Rune shifted uncomfortably undernieth him.

"I'm really not rushing you?"

Rune managed a small glare. "Of course not. I've... waited a long time already, you know?" He reached up and pulled Rath down again.

Rath trailed light kisses across Rune's chest, and suckled on a nipple until he moaned. And then Rath pulled away, propping himself up on his elbows. "Hey, I... think you'd better tell me now. How far do you want to go?"

Rune told him. He snickered.

"Really?"

Rune's blush, which had returned, once again got worse. "Yes!"

Rath chuckled, and kissed him gently. "Well, I can't complain..."

XoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX

Afterwards, The Fire Knight was the first to speak. "Hmm... Rune?"

He looked lovingly up at him. "Yes?"

Rath returned his gaze with an expression of evil perversion. "I, ah, don't suppose you still have that dress...?"

"AURGH!" Rath cackled, and dodged a pillow. Then he grabbed his koi in a death glomp and kissed him until he surredurded, and eventually they drifted off to sleep.

XoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX

**AN**: o.o;; A long last, our great nation nightmare is OVER! XD But, seriously, it did take me forever to finish this monster. I was stuck at the part at the end of the ball forEVER; can you tell? Finally, however, the almighty Mad Tea Party (also known as B-chan) discovered it in the deep dark recesses my computer and started bugging me to work on it, and she didn't stop bugging until I finished it. That's right, not even to sleep. It was terrible. LOL... My gosh, it's long, isn't it? I never meant for it to be this long... Do you think it should have been in chapters? But I'm too lazy to split it in to chapters, wah! XD Review on-eeee-ga-i?


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